Aldous Huxley, an English novelist, explores the implications of the dehumanization of characters through the satiric portrayal of the modern world. He complies his thoughts and opinions in a novel written in 1930 but set in AD 2540, Brave New World. He utilizes psychological analysis of the characters in the World State and their interactions with the Savage Reserve characters to depict his personal contradicting beliefs following the creation of the assembly line by Henry Ford. Huxley believes that the assembly line is a threatening discovery to the individuality of people. The views of the World State juxtapose those of Huxley, who embodies the character of the savage John, as he verbally threatens the modern world’s view upon birth …show more content…
and the concept of parents, old age in regard to purpose, and the usage of soma in the dehumanizing of characters. The world state views birth as simply scientific.
Babies are produced and processed in unnatural assembly lines through the usage of test tubes, creating multiple sets of babies at once. Huxley critiques this inhumane process by introducing John, a savage, into the Brave New World through the natural birthing by Linda and the father being the Director. Parents do not exist in this society: babies are created by science, by assembly lines, and for the sole purpose of creating more. The word “parent” is allocated a negative connotation by the people of London; therefore, when the Director’s hidden secret is revealed as a gush of “agony [and] bewildered humiliation” comes to fruition, Huxley implies his disgust with the society (Huxley 152). He relates his altering viewpoint to his audience through vivid imagery and repetition of “My father” to accentuate his prevalent satire in regards to the concept of …show more content…
parenthood. In the World State, old age is negated, and people live for the sole purpose of creating babies at a rapid rate. People in London isolate their motive for life into actions taken in their society, specifically in the form of sleeping with multiple partners and partaking in weekly “religious sessions” that end in orgies. Huxley initiates the opinion that people should live for their entire lifespan, not just for one sole reason in general. He also provides evidence against the prevalence of creation by the women of society. Huxley allows John to initiate conversation with Lenina regarding old age; however, her response is far from John and ultimately Huxley’s point of view. John’s profession of love to Lenina and her “stare of annoyed incomprehension. Confused [John]” (Huxley 190). Huxley’s incorporation of this scene illuminates his reluctance to admit to the predominant life goal for humans in this time period. Specific requirements for their castes to create a more “perfect society” limit the unique qualities most humans posses that differentiate them from others.
The World State praises efficiency increases following the 9 year war in London which allowed the development of castes, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. The society also utilizes soma, a drug used to increase calamity and decrease anxiety, which decreases personality, making all the same again. Huxley argues that total dehumanization is not possible because of diversity and human nature. John’s outlash with “sudden noises of shrill voices made [him] open [him] eyes and … look around” at those with soma following Linda’s death due to soma elicits the negativity surrounding the blurred portrayal of feelings by wiping them from
humans. Overall, Huxley satirically mocks the futuristic utopian society he creates known as the Brave New World in terms of many discrepancies he holds following the creation of the assembly line which begins the process of eliminating humanity. He fears that machines will take over, lessening the impact of human qualities and personalities, and change the world negatively. Huxley dictates that he disagrees with the futuristic possibility of unnatural birth and lack of the term parent, as well as the life changing age limit society might begin to place in terms of creation and elimination. Lastly, Huxley threatens that total dehumanization is possible through the illustration of soma and the caste system and the effects on humans as a whole. Throughout the novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley criticizes the modern portrayal of humanity and life qualities which is very significant to all aspects of humans, their purpose, and ultimately, their happiness.
This is one of the many ways that Huxley uses satire to bring about his message, through the setting of a dystopic utopia, in itself ironic. To this end, the setting truly acts as a warning somewhat, in how “Brave New World’s […] ironic satire of a utopia warns us against the dangers of political manipulation and technological development.” (“Aldous Huxley” 1) One of the biggest features of Brave New World’s setting is the way in which the World State within it controls its citizens. The entirety of the setting is in a way a “[critique] of the twentieth-century obsession with science, technological development, and the commercial and industrial advancement,” (Chapman 1) especially in how no one in this world is born from a mother, but is instead created and genetically manipulated within a test-tube, within a great
“Dehumanized” by Mark Slouka explores the issue of our nation’s education and how science and math are being used to primarily teach students about business and capitalism. Although I believe that students should have a good understanding of economics for the sake of their future. I, like Mark Slouka, believe that the humanities should be taught and accepted in our schools to help students further their education.
Dehumanization was a big part of these camps. The Nazis would kick innocent Jewish families and send them to concentration or death camps. The main way they dehumanized these Jewish people is when they take all their possessions. In Night they go around taking all there gold and silver, make them leave their small bags of clothing on the train, and finally give them crappy clothing. All this reduces their emotions; they go from owing all these possessions to not having a cent to their name. If I was in that situation I would just be in shock with such a huge change in such a short amount of time. The next way they dehumanized the Jewish people were they stopped using names and gave them all numbers. For example in Night Eliezer’s number was A-7713. Not only were all their possessions taken, but also their names. Your name can be something that separates you from another person. Now they are being kept by their number, almost as if that’s all they are, a number. If I was in their place I would question my importance, why am I here, am I just a number waiting to be replaced? The third way they were dehumanized was that on their “death march” they were forced to run nonstop all day with no food or water. If you stopped or slowed down, you were killed with no regards for your life. The prisoners were treated like cattle. They were being yelled at to run, run faster and such. They were not treated as equal humans. If the officers were tired, they got replaced. Dehumanization affected all the victims of the Holocaust in some sort of way from them losing all their possessions, their name, or being treated unfairly/ like animals.
When the author of Night, Elie Wiesel, arrives at Auschwitz, the Jewish people around him, the Germans, and himself have yet to lose their humanity. Throughout the holocaust, which is an infamous genocide that imprisoned many Jewish people at concentration camps, it is clear that the horrors that took place here have internally affected all who were involved by slowly dehumanizing them. To be dehumanized means to lose the qualities of a human, and that is exactly what happened to both the Germans and the Jewish prisoners. Wiesel has lived on from this atrocious event to establish the dehumanization of all those involved through his use of animal imagery in his memoir Night to advance the theme that violence dehumanizes both the perpetrator
In the story Night by Elie Wiesel, dehumanization occurs through the loss of religious belief. While in the concentration camps, Elie's friends and family suffer each and every day. He prays to God every night but he soon questions why God has not helped even one time through the suffering.
When a community attempts to promote social order by ridding society of controversial ideas and making every citizen equal to every other, the community becomes dystopian. Although dystopian societies intend to improve life, the manipulation of thoughts and actions, even when it is done out of the interest of citizens, often leads to the dehumanization of people. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Montag, the main character, lives in a dystopian society that has been so overly simplified and homogenized, in order to promote social order, that the citizens exist as thoughtless beings. The lack of individual thinking, deficit of depth and knowledge, and the loss of true living is what has transformed Montag’s city into a dystopia and made the
In the article excerpt, social critic Neil Postman describes two dystopian novels: George Orwell’s 1984, and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Postman compares which novel is more relevant to today’s society, and leans more towards Brave New World. When both novels are compared side by side, it is evident that Huxley’s world is indeed more relative to modern day civilization.
The novel, Brave New World, takes place in the future, 632 A. F. (After Ford), where biological engineering reaches new heights. Babies are no longer born viviparously, they are now decanted in bottles passed through a 2136 metre assembly line. Pre-natal conditioning of embryos is an effective way of limiting human behaviour. Chemical additives can be used to control the population not only in Huxley's future society, but also in the real world today. This method of control can easily be exercised within a government-controlled society to limit population growth and to control the flaws in future citizens. In today's world, there are chemical drugs, which can help a pregnant mother conceive more easily or undergo an abortion. In the new world, since there is no need...
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, portrays a future society where people are no longer individuals but are controlled by the World State. The World State dominates the people by creating citizens that are content with who they are. Brave New World describes how the science of biology and psychology are manipulated so that the government can develop technologies to change the way humans think and act. The World State designs humans from conception for this society. Once the humans are within the society the state ensures all people remain happy. They program these humans to have needs and desires that will sustain a lucrative economy while not thinking of themselves as an individual. Huxley describes the Worlds State’s intent to control their society through medical intervention, happiness, and consumerism which has similarities to modern society.
In Huxley’s Brave New World, human life is conceived in a bottle; the embryo no longer grows in the mother’s womb, and therefore no bond is formed between the mother and the baby.
In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.
“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley is one of his most famous novels. The author created a complex novel by developing a story focusing on a Utopian and Dystopian society. The novel was written 83 years ago and people are still amazed by the content of the book. “Brave New world” takes the reader into a world of fantasy and fiction. In “Brave New World” Huxley describes a very different society. In this futuristic society, the interaction between people changed. People could enjoy their sex lives without having to be attached to a single person. In the book, there is a phrase that express that “everyone belongs to everyone”. In the novel, technology and modernization advance on a grand scale. This means that babies were no longer being born
Every society around the world offers different jobs and roles for an individual to succeed in and define them. Whether you are a garbage man, doctor, teacher or a celebrity, you have distinct qualities define someone. Adlous Huxley wrote Brave New World, a dystopian novel based on a utopian society with the ultimate goal of universal happiness. The futuristic novel was written in the midst of the great depression. Huxley may have created a society through his work to abolish the problems like unemployment, debt, poverty and war but there was no humanity and there definitely was no individuality. The government stripped everyone of any chance of being an individual by restricting religion, literature, family unit, and control over their life.
The matter-of-fact way he talks about some of the most horrifying aspects of this society is unnerving. The Controllers do not care about individuals; they can simply “hatch” new people. The way one Controller, Mustapha Mond, explains it, “Murder kills only the individual- and, after all what is an individual? It is better one should suffer than many be corrupted.” This Utilitarianism way of living is unsettling to think about because how easily replaceable one life is, and what also is more disturbing is how close our world has become to the world Huxley was trying to warn us about, the world of science as God, of truth being relative, of the “if it feels good, do it” concept. That is why Huxley’s book is so impressive, even though it was written in 1932; Huxley manages to influence the reader into considering that this brave new world could become one of our own. He had no idea what advances in technology we would have in this day-and-age, but the book can still give readers the “what if?” thoughts. It is also easy to see that Huxley wrote this book in the early nineteen hundreds because of the technology that is left out (nuclear power and computers) and focuses on the babies being moved through the process on a conveyor belt. In the early nineteen hundreds, production was all done on an assembly line, but that is what Huxley was trying to portray (a life can be easily made and replaced by the next in
If someone looked down on you and abused you, both verbally and physically, how would you feel? Would you feel down? Feel like your self-confidence hit the rocks? People of high power feel the need to showcase their authority to others, to maintain their influence on others and to show who is at the top of the social hierarchy. Dehumanisation is a result of this, where one is treated less than a human being, to deprive them of their personality and high spirits. It gives the person contentment from being in control whether to humiliate them or make them feel worthless. Dehumanisation can affect someone’s life in a way that is not visible to others such as mental disorders. Some may think that dehumanising someone is all fun and games but what